Looks like Ed Helm is finally getting some payback against one of his most ardent critics and behind-the-scenes opponents, the former state Democratic Party consultant in Pinellas, Kevin King. On Thursday night, he was all over Tampa Bay 10's report about King's 2001 arrest on charges that he improperly e-mailed two female students about drinking and sex while a substitute teacher.
Mike Deeson broke a story that had been shopped to every media outlet in town, including CL. The most serious charges against King were dropped and a judge sealed both the court file and police reports of the incident.
On Saturday, the Miami Herald's Gary Fineout wrote the first print account to surface. It added info that King pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge and ajudication was withheld, meaning that King can properly say he was not convicted of anything in the case.
It is not known who e-mailed details of the 2001 St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune accounts of the arrest, since it came from an apparently fake address. Helm in both the TV and print stories said he asked the state party to conduct an investigation of its employee and that it ignored his request.
The Herald points out that King apparently has no further legal problems and, in fact, passed a background check to be a Little League baseball coach. King had advised several Democratic House campaigns until a few months ago, when he resigned his post. He told me at that time it was to care for his parents. The Herald story blames questions about the 2001 arrest for his departure.
King is the second young Democratic consultant to be linked in media reports to legal problems. Peter Schorsch still faces grand theft and fraud charges related to a handful of campaigns he ran, as well as a $66,000 state fine for improprieties in a political committee he administered. Schorsch appears to be done in politics; King tells Blurbex that he hopes to return to political work.
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2006.